YEAR IN REVIEW
INSIDE
Standing Up for the ideas
of A Free Society p.2
Training Future Leaders p.8
Rewarding Excellence p.11
How Tyranny s Loss Became
Liberty s Gain p.15
Connecting the Freedom Movement p.17
Expanding the Audience for Liberty p.19
Special Atlas Initiatives p.23

1201 L Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
Tel 202 449 8449
www.atlasnetwork.org
The Atlas Economic Research Foundation
is a non-profit 501(c)3 that works with
think tanks and individuals around the
world to advance a vision of a society of
free and responsible individuals, based
upon private property rights, limited
government under the rule of law and the
market order.
1 ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009
20 Years
Later, More
Walls to
Tear Down
wo decades after one of the most liberating years
in world history, there are still walls that silence
people, walls that oppress, walls that threaten,
walls that divide and discriminate – barriers erected
by governments to limit or steal each human being’s right to
life, liberty and property. When, in 1989, the sprit of peaceful
revolution for the cause of freedom blanketed the world,
courageous people filled town squares and said no to state
control. They were demonstrating for the freedom to
speak, travel, exchange goods, hold on to their earnings, and
make their own decisions. Today, we must revive the spirit of
these brave freedom-fighters – here in the U.S. where a soft
socialism threatens to suffocate our prosperity and liberty, and
in many countries worldwide that seem to have forgotten – or
never experienced – the blessings of liberty.
For this purpose, the Atlas Economic Research Foundation
develops and nurtures think tanks that can play a constructive
role in the long-term public debate. Atlas is a catalyst to
their success, by providing training and resources, and by
providing a connection to a dynamic network of think
tanks and talented individuals devoted to individual liberty.
The following pages of this Year in Review will highlight the
exciting and ambitious efforts of some of the most effective
intellectual entrepreneurs that have been supported by Atlas.
You will also read about the innovative programs housed
at Atlas which are creating a larger, more effective movement
dedicated to America’s founding principles of individual
liberty, free markets, and rule of law.
Atlas vice president and director of the Atlas Global
Initiative, Tom Palmer, introduces platforms for Anthony Livanios (Hellenic Leadership Institute, Greece) and Atlas vice president Jo Kwong
spreading classical liberal ideas in over 14 languages. discuss liberty in Egypt at the Atlas Club Briefing before the 2008 Freedom Dinner.
For more than 15 years Atlas has sup-
ported my institute both financially
and with priceless advice in promot-
ing the ideas of freedom through think
tanks. I remember very strongly when
in 1997 Atlas helped me to organize
a free market conference in Athens,
Greece. That was a crucial year
because seven years later, in 2004,
political leadership that attended that
two-day conference won the national
elections and promoted the strongest
free market policies since the 1970s. It
also helped to create a new think tank
culture among market oriented orga-
nizations in Greece. Thank you.”
- ANTHONY LIVANIOS, HELLENIC
UP
Atlas president Alex Chafuen (center) with Hiroshi Yoshida (right) and Masaru Uchiyama (left) of
Japanese for Tax Reform, winner of the 2008 Templeton Freedom Award for Social Entrepreneurship.
LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE
STANDING
IDEAS
FOR THE OF
FREE
A SOCIETY
At the end of the Cold War Francis Fukayama proclaimed an “end of history,” yet it is clear that the battle of ideas
continues, and that the future of individual liberty and free enterprise still requires eternal vigilance.   
Big government has been on the march in 2009. Now more than ever, those who cherish freedom need to be
engaged in the public debate, attract newcomers to the cause, and stand up for the ideas of a free society.    
This is happening, and Atlas takes a great deal of pride in how much of this activity is driven by allies in the think
tank network that has been cultivated over nearly three decades.  As the next pages of this review explain, Atlas
partners are having some of the most impact on the hottest policy topics (health care, energy) and most hostile
countries (Zimbabwe, Venezuela).
ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009 2

Former Delaware Governor and Chairman of
the National Center for Policy Research, Pete
DuPont, on Capitol Hill promoting NCPA’s “Free
Our Health Care Now” campaign and peti-
tion, which received over 1.3 million signatures
before it was presented to Congress.
“For too long, medical
practitioners have ignored
policy, but have been happy
to complain when policy
gets in the way of doing our
jobs. The Benjamin Rush
Freedom of
Choice
The battle over healthcare policy is
reaching new heights in the United
States and at times it seems the prin-
ciples of medical freedom are being
ever-marginalized. Allies of Atlas are
striving to make sure liberty’s voice
is heard among the din of misin-
formation and statist rhetoric. This
includes established groups like the
National Center for Policy Anal-
ysis (USA) (one of the first benefi-
ciaries of Atlas support in the early
1980s), as well as new efforts such
as the Benjamin Rush Society, a
project incubated at the Pacific Re-
search Institute (USA) . It aims to
position medical schools the way the
Federalist Society has positioned U.S. law schools by holding debates between
medical professionals and students at Columbia University, Harvard Medical
School, George Washington School of Medicine, and others. Atlas senior fellow
Deroy Murdock spoke at the BRS’s October forum at Harvard, commenting:
“We hope to find more Americans in medicine who share our views and deploy
them – in their lab coats and with their stethoscopes – to advance medical in-
novation and limited-government, patient-centered health care reforms.”
This spring, Atlas was able to connect two intellectual entrepreneurs devoting
their careers to the cause of choice in medicine. Frequent public policy com-
mentator for Chicago’s Heartland Institute, Bart Madden, has been an Atlas
supporter for years. Madden has been touring the nation this year introducing
his proposal for an alternative track option within the FDA drug approval pro-
cess, giving terminally ill patients the choice to take experimental drugs. After
speaking on a panel at the 2009 Atlas Liberty Forum with Alphonse Crespo of
Economic Liberty
and Prosperity
When President Obama began
lauding Spain and its “green jobs”
initiative as an example for the U.S.
to emulate, the Instituto Juan de
Mariana in Madrid found an
opportunity.
It has authoritative research to pres-
ent, and a charismatic actor-turned-
Ph.D. economist in place as executive
director to tout the results. Gabriel
Calzada, who also serves as professor
at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos,
released a study in March of 2009
dispelling the myths about green
jobs. IJM’s Study of the Effects on
Employment of Public Aid to Renew-
able Energy Sources found that for
every one green job created by the
Spanish government, 2.2 real jobs
were lost in the private economy.
The study also found that in the past
decade, 9 out of every 10 green jobs
created by Spanish government sub-
sidies don’t exist anymore. At 18%
Spain now boasts one of the highest
unemployment rates in the devel-
oped world.
While Obama toured the country
promoting the Spanish model,
Calzada was testifying to the House Top: Gabriel Calzada (Instituto Juan de

Society debates are just the
sort of thing we need to get
more involved in the policy
debates that affect our
careers, our patients, and
our own lives.”
- James Scott, Dean of George Washington Uni-
versity School of Medicine and Health Sciences
and moderator of the GWU debate
3 ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009
Medicine & Liberty (Switzerland), the two are working to establish a center
in Europe that will promote choice in medicine and create an environment
where Madden’s “Dual Tracking” can be adopted and serve as a model. They
will not be alone. Already, efforts in Sweden by the think tank Eudoxa, led
by fellow Liberty Forum panelist Waldemar Ingdahl, is working to promote
access to unapproved drugs that has attracted the ear of over one hundred
European health officials. The Lithuanian Free Market Institute has pro-
duced similar projects and the organization Japanese for Tax Reform has
translated Madden’s work.
Energy and Commerce Committee on the real economic impact: higher
residential electric bills, a burden on energy-intensive companies, and a slow
economic recovery in Spain.
This summer, activists with the American Energy Alliance, buoyed by
Calzada’s findings, toured the U.S. determined to kill the Waxman-Markey
energy bill that promises to deliver the same results as its Iberian counterpart.
Coupled with Calzada’s testimonies on the Hill this fall, liberty has
representation.
Instituto Juan de Mariana is a 2009 Fisher Venture Grantee and was the
winner of a 2008 Templeton Freedom Award for Special Achievement by a
Young Institute.
Mariana, Spain) testifying before the Select
Committee on Energy Independence and Global
Warming on September 24, 2009.
Bottom: Calzada (center) and his wife Karen
and daughter Sara (left) joined by Mirsulzhan
Namazaliev (Central Asia Free Market
Institute, Kyrgyzstan) and Jamie Story (Grass-
root Institute of Hawaii, USA) at The Atlas
Experience in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada in
August. Calzada gave a humorous presentation
of his study’s findings and the reaction of the
global warming alarmists following its release.
ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009 4

Socialized property takes away what is yours. No to the Cuban Law: one of many campaign posters
that appear in the subway stations, billboards, and newspapers in Venezuela to rally support for
private property rights.
Atlas’s Alex Chafuen congratulates Rafael
Alfonzo (left), chairman of CEDICE, as Mario
Vargas Llosa applauds at CEDICE’s 25th
anniversary celebration.
CEDICE won Atlas’s 2008 Freda
Utley Prize for Advancing Liberty,
a 2004 Templeton Freedom Award
Grant for Institute Excellence, and
a Sir Antony Fisher International
Memorial Award in 1992.
5 ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009
Property Rights
Long hailed as a voice of reason in
Venezuela, Centro de Divulgación
del Conocimiento Económico
(CEDICE) bravely turned up the
heat this year countering President
Chávez’s attempts to monopolize pow-
er and squash dissent. In March 2009,
it launched a country-wide campaign
against the government’s take-over of
private property using catch phrases
like “No a la Ley Cubana” (No to the
Cuban Law). Stark posters of na-
ked Venezuelans (symbolizing the
government’s taking of everything
but people’s clothes) have appeared
in subway stations, city walls and
billboards, and in El Nacional, the
country’s most widely read daily. The
message became so effective Chávez
ordered criminal investigations and
has banned the campaign.
In May, CEDICE’s 25th anniversary
celebration, co-sponsored by Atlas,
attracted over 800 participants and 100 international guests. Repeated ver-
bal attacks and intimidation by the Chávez regime increased the turnout and
created unprecedented media attention. Foreign think tanks, such as the Cato
Institute in the U.S., and Mexican-based network, RELIAL, conducted back-
to-back workshops in association with CEDICE. Just prior to the main event,
Atlas organized a workshop, chaired by Alvaro Vargas Llosa of the U.S.-based
Independent Institute, for editors of Latin American media outlets, many of
which received Atlas’s support to attend the conference.
The presence of high profile figures such as Peruvian author, Mario Vargas
Llosa, former Bolivian president Jorge Quiroga, and think tank leader Cristián
Larroulet of Libertad y Desarrollo in Chile added an important element
of prestige and transparency, but also tension. Vargas Llosa and his son, the
aforementioned Alvaro, were both detained at the airport and sternly told not to
criticize the government.
Neither cooperated. Before hundreds of defiant liberals, the elder Vargas Llosa
stated, “We don’t want Venezuela to become a totalitarian communist state!”
Following the event Chávez engaged Mario Vargas Llosa in a public tête-è-tête,
using his state-controlled television as a mouthpiece to suggest the two should
debate on air, to which the author enthusiastically accepted. How often does a
dictator invite conversation over his policies? It was too good to be true how-
ever, Chávez quickly retracted his challenge.
Transparency
and Rule of Law
In Croatia, insisting on the rule of
law can be dangerous business.
Natasha Srdoc, co-founder of the
Adriatic Institute (Croatia), has
spoken at Atlas events about the ha-
rassment and intimidation triggered
by her work exposing corruption in
her native Croatia. The government
ordered an audit of the Institute to
identify funding sources and
activities. Other opposition journal-
ists have mysteriously disappeared,
or have wound up dead.
But Srdoc, officially an “enemy of the
state,” pressed on in 2009 writing
and speaking about certain govern-
ment official’s penchant for money Natasha Srdoc (Adriatic Institute, Croatia)
laundering, secret public-private contracts, embezzlement, and other works to tear down the remaining barriers to
kleptocratic tendencies. The work of the Adriatic Institute has had results. liberty in Croatia by exposing corrupt officials,
promoting rule of law and open markets.
Prime Minister Ivo Sanader was pressured to resign as the extent of his
abuse of power was exposed.
Since 2004, the Adriatic Institute has aimed to engage leaders and reach the “The walls that remain in
general public with criticisms of the status quo by publishing a plethora of
articles and regularly appearing on Croatia’s broadcast media including a Croatia have destroyed the
prime time television debate with the finance minister. The Institute further
rule of law and dismantled
spotlighted Croatia’s problems through international events, including
Atlas programs, and briefings for elected officials in Europe and the U.S. This the free society. The archi-
highly leveraged strategy augmented both external and internal pressures
that directly contributed to Sanader’s resignation in July of 2009, perhaps tects of the wall must be
sparking Eastern Europe’s new revolution.
exposed for Croatians to live
free of fear and to rebuild
our society.”
- Natasha Srdoc, Adriatic Institute
ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009 6
 Free Market Reform
In May, nine African think tanks in the Atlas
network released The Zimbabwe Papers: A
Positive Agenda for Zimbabwean Renewal,
which proposes concrete policy measures to
improve the dire conditions in that country.

The commissioners of The Zimbabwe

Papers crafted a systematic approach to reform
and released the papers to the media in early
June. On June 9 The Zimbabwe Papers were
presented to Morgan Tsvangirai, opposition
leader and Prime Minister in the power-sharing government, along with his
top economic policy team and three of his cabinet ministers. The 79-page
proposal sets out a comprehensive package for putting the derailed economy
back on track. The commissioners stress the need for well-defined and legally
secure transferrable rights to land, monetary reform, control of the state bud-
get, and reduction of unemployment by easing barriers to entry to the labor
market. Other key areas for reform include reduction of tariffs and other trade
barriers (now among the world’s highest), more efficient and accountable
customs procedures, and cracking down on corruption.

The authors of these serious policy recommendations are committed allies

Top picture, left to right: Franklin Cudjoe (IMANI
Center for Policy & Education, Ghana) and Ma-
hamadou Sinte (Le Centre des Affaires Humaines,
Burkina Faso), two commissioners of the The Zim-
babwe Papers, with 2009 Think Tank MBA partici-
pant Adedayo Thomas (AfricanLiberty.org).
Bottom picture: Zimbabwean Prime Minister Mor-
gan Tsvangirai took some time during his 2009
U.S. tour to read The Zimbabwe Papers, free mar-
and many are long-time beneficiaries of Atlas programs. The IMANI Center
for Policy & Education in Ghana is a two-time winner of the Templeton
Freedom Award. The Center also received a Fisher Venture Grant in 2008,
and a grant to promote and distribute Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged in 2007.
IMANI and the Atlas Global Initiative are creators of AfricanLiberty.org, the
continent’s main online platform for writers who believe in peace, freedom,
and prosperity. The site hosts content in English and Swahili, as well
as access to material in French, Portuguese, and Arabic.  Among the other

TRAINING FUTURE LEADERS

ket policy reform recommendations commissioned commissioners of The Papers, Rejoice Ngwenya of the Coalition for

T
by nine African think tanks in the Atlas network. Market & Liberal Solutions in Zimbabwe has been deeply involved in the
Atlas network and an influential voice for human liberty in Africa. The Law
Review Project and the Free Market Foundation, both of South Africa,
“Zimbabwe has turned from have won Templeton Freedom Award first prizes for the Social Entrepreneur- he Atlas Think Tank MBA (TTMBA) is a two-week program that
Ezequiel Vázquez Ger (Instituto Acton,
helps think tank leaders develop their strategic plans while getting
Africa’s breadbasket into ship and Solutions to Poverty categories, respectively. The Atlas Global Initia- Argentina), Vanesa Colmegna (Fundación
a crash course in all aspects of running a think tank – including
tive works extensively with The Papers’ commissioners to disseminate the Iberoamérica Europa, Spain), Eleonora
a basket case in less than a ideas of classical liberalism and limited government to policymakers, students, Coronel (Poder Judicial de la Nación,
Argentina), Eduardo Cader-Pena (Asocioción
program planning and evaluation, fundraising, marketing, organi-
and the general public throughout Africa. zational structure, and financial management.
generation and we, as Democracia y Desarrollo, El Salvador).

Africans, must recognize that
the reason for this is the
Government’s failed policies,”
- Temba Nolutshungu, Free Market Foundation,
South Africa
7 ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009
The Papers have received significant ink and airtime in Africa and worldwide,
appearing in the Harare Tribune, Modern Ghana, Guardian Newspapers,
CNBC Africa, Korea Times, Daily Times (Malawi), Financial24 (South Af-
rica), World News, BusinessDaily (Kenya), The Pioneer (India), and others.
They have also given intellectual ammunition to a campaign to boycott Nestlé
Company over their association with First Lady Grace Mugabe’s milk farm.
The Zimbabwe Papers explain that freedom is a whole package, not merely an
economic policy. They take an important step in making that message
resonate with African leaders.
The Think Tank MBA program is not simply a seminar. Atlas senior fellow
Rainer Heufers leads participants through interactive exercises and discus-
sions, and then coaches them one-on-one as they develop business plans to
prove their understanding of the concepts being taught. Participants learn
from experts from the think tank network, such as fundraising and marketing
gurus Bob Russell and Ann Fitzgerald, president of the Foundation for
Economic Education, Lawrence Reed, Acton Institute executive direc-
tor, Kris Mauren, and new media specialist from the State Policy Network,
Nicole Williams.
ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009 8
 Think Tank MBA
Class of 2009
Michal Baran, Poland

Jean Baugh, New Mexico

Kofi Bentil, Ghana

Steven Bowen, Maine

Eduardo Cader, El Salvador

Vanesa Colmegna, Spain

Eleonora Coronel, Argentina

George Chkikvade,
Republic of Georgia

Tuur Demeester, Belgium

Richard Durana, Slovakia

Federico Fernández, Argentina

Nicholas Gafuik, Canada

Richard Durana of the Institute for Economic and Social Studies (Slovakia) and Greg Sindelar of the Texas Public Policy Foundation drafts notes on Left to right: Aman Mahrzai (Council on Afghan Relations, USA), Adedayo Thomas (AfricanLiberty. Ezequiel Vázquez Ger, Argentina
Atlas COO Brad Lips discuss business plans. marketing strategy at the 2009 Think Tank MBA. org), Atlas’s Yiqiao Xu, Eduardo Cader (Asociación Democracia y Desarrollo, El Salvador), and Tho-
bias Makoba (E-Fulusi Africa, Tanzania).
Bugra Kalkan, Turkey

S
Aman Mahrzai, California
“In young
eparate group projects require TTMBA participants to work as a organizations Free Enterprise Thobias Makoba, Tanzania
team and actually develop, implement, and evaluate campaigns
in only a few days. The project that earned top rankings this year we have plenty Training Centers Shaka Mitchell, Tennessee
created a website, viral video and social networking campaign to In 2009, Atlas funded the launch of four Mirsulzhan Namazaliev,
of passion but Free Enterprise Training Centers (FETC)
highlight the freedom of speech issues at the heart of a recent controversy in Kyrgyzstan
Elena Leontjeva, president of
which the Obama administration encouraged citizens to report to the White are in great around the world as part of a new cost-
the Lithuanian Free Market
House any “fishy” commentary on health reform proposals.  effective strategy for identifying and training Institute Fábio Ostermann, Brazil
need of the tools for building new “intellectual entrepreneurs.”
There were also visits to DC-area think tanks such as the Institute for Jus- Armando Regil, Mexico
an effective and lasting
tice and the Cato Institute, as well as special nighttime dinners and excur- By leveraging the talents of some of the most effective established think
Samyukta Rupakheti, Nepal
sions designed to help create strong bonds among a group of participants that organization committed tanks in the Atlas network, Atlas can reach a larger audience – sharpen-
brought diverse backgrounds (21 countries were represented by the 28 partici- ing their understanding of free-market ideas and how think tanks can Ivan Sadouski, Belarus
pants) but similar aspirations to the program. to individual liberty. Atlas’ help advance liberty over the long-term. One of the think tanks working
like a “satellite Atlas” via a FETC is the Lithuanian Free Market In- Battsetseg Shagdar, Mongolia
challenging TTMBA stitute (LFMI), which has a 19-year track record of effectively promot-
Although the real success of this program will only be discovered over time –
as we see whether the participants can translate their learning into effective program gave me practical ing sound public policies. Atlas’s grant to establish a center at LFMI has Greg Sindelar, Texas
promotion of liberty back home – Atlas was gratified to get extremely positive resulted in its new European Academy for Intellectual Entrepreneurs,
insights from leaders in Jamie Story, Hawaii
feedback about the value imparted during these two weeks together.  discovering talented young people via an essay contest, scouting trips,
internships and network resources. The most promising candidates
the free market movement receive further coaching, and practical training in an environment that
Adedayo Thomas, Nigeria

that will surely make me
better prepared for the great
task ahead.”
– Shaka Mitchell, Think Tank MBA Graduate
fosters intellectual advancement with the goal of catalyzing the next Carlos Omar Vargas, Ecuador
generation of European free market think tank leaders. Similar efforts
have been launched at the Free Enterprise Training Centers funded by
Atlas at the F. A. Hayek Foundation (Slovakia), Libertad y Desar-
rollo (Chile), and the Association of Liberal Thinking (Turkey).

9 ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009 ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009 10


The Centre for Civil Society in India won a Templeton Freedom Award for its School Choice Campaign which promotes
choice in education using street theater performances.
REWARDING EXCELLENCE
P
art of the critical “catalyst” role that Atlas plays is executed by extensive awards programs that
recognize and reward top-notch scholarship or advocacy. Each year, Atlas taps world-renowned
experts from the media, academy, NGOs, and the private sector to serve as judges and identify
the most effective think tanks promoting free markets, rule of law, and individual liberty. Atlas’s
international awards are crucial for discovering new talent and staying informed of the great work of existing allies.
Pakistani women participating in a program offered by Templeton Freedom Award winner, Samasource (USA),
that enables people in developing countries to find work opportunities via the internet.
11 ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009
F or ver two decades The Sir Antony Fisher International
Memorial Awards have recognized outstanding publica-
tions that enhance the public understanding of the free society
from over twenty-five countries, spanning every continent. This year, as
socialist dictators increasingly hamper prosperity in Latin America, the
Chilean think tank Libertad y Desarrollo responded with a seminal
book, Pobreza: Ideas Para Superarla (Ideas to Overcome Poverty),
aimed at getting the Latin world back on track by outlining how Chile
was able to successfully reform its economy.
Following severe sanctions imposed by the Nixon administration in
1973 and the failed policies of Salvador Allende, the Chilean economy
was crippled. Record inflation, zero foreign reserves, and a tanking
GDP jeopardized the stability of the South American country.
Enter: Hernan Büchi. As Undersecretary of the Economy (1979-80),
Undersecretary of Health (1980-83), Minister of Planning (1983-84),
Superintendent of Banks and Financial Institutions (1984-85) and
Minister of Finance (1985-1989), Büchi, along with economist Miguel
Kast (to whom the book is dedicated), was critical in transforming
Chile into the dynamic market-oriented and free trade-based country
that it is today by removing barriers to trade, privatizing state
companies, and restraining a inflationary crisis through fiscal discipline
and tight monetary policy.
Büchi sought to institutionalize the ideas that had turned Chile around
so they would last beyond the reformers who enacted them. In 1990,
he co-founded Libertad y Desarrollo (LyD), a policy shop devoted to
promoting the virtues of individual liberty and limited government. In an effort to see the Chilean experience
replicated by its neighbors, LyD published the Fisher Award-winning Pobreza, a collection of essays writ-
ten by twelve star economists and social scientists, such as Libertad y Desarrollo executive director, Cristián
Larroulet and Osvaldo Larrañaga of Universidad de Chile. Pobreza emphasizes the importance of growth,
employment, education, and social programs, while underlining the key to improve the social conditions of
the poor is a commitment by the government to support individual efforts toward economic growth.
Other 2009 Fisher Award Winners:
• The Moral Superiority of the Free Economy
by Michal Wojciechowski. Published by
the Polish-American Foundation for
Economic Research and Education
(PAFERE), Warsaw, Poland.
• In Search of an Economic Miracle: Lessons
for Belarus by Jaroslav Romachuk. Published
by the Mises Scientific Research Center,
Minsk, Belarus.
Left to right: Jan Malek (PAFERE, Poland), Denise Couyoumdjian
(LyD, Chile), Ana Yerro (Institución Futuro, Spain), and Jaroslav
•Future Trends Magazine. Published by
Romachuk (Mises Scientific Research Center, Belarus). Institucíon Futuro, Navarra, Spain.
ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009 12
 B efore establishing the Institute of Economic
and Social Studies (INESS), Slovakian Ph.D
biochemist Richard Durana spent his time prepar-
ing sub-cellular vaccines against fungal diseases. When he
wasn’t in the lab, Durana was devoted to the work of Ludwig
von Mises and the Austrian School of Economics. By 2006,
the dour state of the Slovakian economy inspired Durana
to leave the hard sciences for the dismal science and start a
new free-market think tank.
In only three years, INESS has launched an extremely popu-
lar website educating the public on The Price of the State
and publishes a highly-demanded manual of educational
tools for high school and university instructors to teach public finance. INESS has quickly become the most
cited economic think tank in the country and has logged over 1400 media appearances. For its achievements,
Atlas recognized INESS with a Fisher Venture Grant in 2009.
The Dorian & Antony Fisher Venture Grants (FVG) program awards grants of up to $100,000 to
promising, young, classical liberal think tanks across the globe. Atlas created the FVG program to provide
grantees with funding over a period of three years, during which time Atlas will be in frequent contact to help
develop plans and to monitor performance. The 2009 class of Fisher Venture Grantees includes the Centre
for Political Studies (Denmark), Instituto Juan de Mariana (Spain), Samriddhi: The Prosperity
Foundation (Nepal), and the Show-Me Institute (Missouri, USA).
Richard Durana of the Institute of Econom-
ic and Social Studies (Slovakia) interviewed
by Tomasz Cukiernik of the Globalization
Institute (Poland) in the Polish weekly, Czas
(Times), about the record economic growth
(14.1%) in Slovakia. Durana attributes the
prosperity to economic reform under Mikuláš
Dzurinda, including a liberalized labor code
and a 19% flat income, corporate, and value
added tax. This reform lead Steve Forbes to
name Slovakia an “investor’s paradise.”
13 ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009
Participants in the Egyptian Union for Liberal Youth attend
weekly workshops on the meaning of liberalism and
the principles of minimal state, free trade, and rule of law.
2009 Templeton Freedom Award Winners
Free Market Solutions to Poverty
• New Economic School (Republic of Georgia)
• Free Market Foundation (South Africa)
Social Entrepreneurship
• Samasource (USA)
• Fundación Paraguaya (Paraguay)
Ethics & Values
• Conservative Institute (Slovakia)
• Globalization Institute (Poland)
Student Outreach
• Foundation for Individual Rights
in Education (USA)
• Institute Invertir (Peru)
A s the largest international prize program
rewarding free-market organizations, the
Templeton Freedom Awards (TFA) are
named for the late investor and philanthropist, Sir John
Templeton. The program was established in 2003 by
Atlas with funding from the Templeton Foundation to
help those who are making significant contributions
to enhancing opportunity and prosperity. Each winner
receives $10,000.
Working in a very difficult environment for the ideas
of liberty, the Egyptian Union of Liberal Youth
(EULY) is one of the youngest groups to win a TFA. 
In 2009, the Union undertook an ambitious and
impressive range of projects to offer young Arabs an
alternative to the repressive and violent dogma that
attracts adolescents in the region. Ventures include an
essay competition on the question “Why am I a
liberal?,” monthly Road to Liberty Workshops covering
the principles of classical liberalism, a wiki providing
free-market literature, and regular screenings of historic
political films.  The essay contest has been publicized in
the country’s five most popular newspapers, the largest
universities, a popular youth radio station, and on two
major political party websites.  EULY was set up in 2007
with the help of Atlas’s Middle East Initiative grant.
Initiative in Public Relations
• Centre for Civil Society (India)
• Institute for Information on the
Crimes of Communism (Sweden)
Innovative Media Award
• Sam Adams Alliance (USA)
• Free to Choose Network (USA)
Award for Special Achievement by a
University Based Center
• Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship at
Rockford College (USA)
• Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
at Universidad del Desarrollo (Chile)
Award for Special Achievement by a
Young Institute
• Instituto Millenium (Brazil)
• Egyptian Union of Liberal Youth (Egypt)
ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 200914

How
Became
Funding the next
generation of
Slovenian
Freedom Fighters
I
By Alejandro Chafuen
’m grateful that totalitarians
have failed at perfecting the art
of coercion and tyranny. Despite
the walls they build, and the
chains they use to confine, some of
their victims nonetheless escape and
tell the stories. Such is the refreshing
case of Bojan Ribnikar and Vida Rib-
nikar nee Pahernik.  and Prah stories, please see www.AtlasNet-
15 ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009
Tyrannys Loss
Liberty s Gain
As witnesses to the brutality of au-
thoritarian rule in their home coun-
try of Yugoslavia, this wonderful
couple  served as shining examples of
freedom fighters throughout their life-
times.  Thanks to their generosity, the
next generation of free-market cham-
pions flourishes in Slovenia.  as Bojan hid from the Gestapo and
The Ribnikars and Paherniks came
from two very productive and entre-
preneurial families in Yugoslavia. They
owned a variety of enterprises includ-
ing newspapers, forestland, cement
factories and vineyards. Their proper-
ties were the envy of socialists of all
stripes. In the 1940s, the property of
both families was expropriated, first by
Hitler’s National Socialists in 1941 and
again in 1945 by Josip Tito’s Commu-
nist Party of Yugoslavia.  Both times,
the Ribnikars were victimized and
targeted because of their affinity for
western capitalism.  wonderful set of relationships de-
Bojan and Vida married just before
the war but rarely saw each other
Communist forces.  In 1944, they
successfully fled to Italy, both
leaving their families in hiding.  Vida had met in pre-war Slovenia.
In Italy Bojan completed a doctor-
ate in Padua while Vida studied in
Florence until they reunited in Rome
to work for the Western Allies’ press
office. Sadly, their families were not
as fortunate – both Bojan and Vida
lost brothers to the war.
Students enjoy the camaraderie of the 2009
Liberty Seminars in Lake Bohinj, Slovenia,
made possible by the Vida Ribnikar legacy.
Bojan and Vida eventually settled in
the Bay Area of California (by way of
my home country, Argentina) where a
veloped which eventually connected
them to Atlas.
As fate would have it, the Ribnikar’s
neighbor was another Slovenian émi-
gré named Borut Prah, who Bojan and
Borut introduced them to his good
friend, Antony Fisher, Atlas’s founder.
At the time, Fisher had set up shop in
San Francisco, only a block from IBM,
where Borut served as an executive.  with allies in the Atlas network, and
The proximity of offices and ideolo-
gies lead to the Ribnikars, Fishers,
and Prahs becoming close friends and
professional allies.
Left to right: Atlas’s Alex Chafuen,
Vida Ribnikar, and Borut Prah
In time, both the Ribnikars and the
Prahs became generous supporters to
Atlas. 
During the 1980s, Borut encouraged
Atlas to become an early pioneer in
the global system of interconnected
computer networks – what we know
now as the world wide web.  He
believed that Atlas’s international
networking could be efficiently accom-
plished using software that IBM used
to connect its employees all over the
world. Thanks to Borut, Atlas became
the first free-market group to have a
computer billboard – a rudimentary
precursor to internet and e-mail!
Borut, and his wife Nadine, were
committed to supporting Atlas’s
efforts  to reverse years of socialist
indoctrination in Slovenia and East-
ern Europe. They encouraged Vida
to help Atlas expand its work in the
region. With her first donation, Atlas
sponsored young Slovenians to attend
free-market training programs. Vida’s
continued support allowed Atlas to
collaborate on programs, conferences,
and publications with like-minded
free-market partners such as the Law
and Economics Center at George
Mason University.
Vida Ribnikar especially valued efforts
aimed at training the younger genera-
tions.  She wanted them exposed to
America’s best free enterprise tradi-
tions and institutions. Her generosity
enabled Atlas to sponsor education
programs, seminars, and translations,
provide training in free market eco-
nomics, connect Eastern Europeans
fund Slovenian projects and organiza-
tions working to expose the damage
caused by collectivism. 
One of her beneficiaries is Ljubo Sirc,
Slovenian professor of economics and
co-founder of the Centre for Research
into Post-Communist Economies
(CRCE) in London. Sirc was the first
in Atlas’s network to conduct annual
conferences with scholars from the for-
mer communist countries to explore,
research, and facilitate their transition
to market economics.
Vida’s generosity also enables Lovro
Sturm, former Slovenian Minister of
Justice, professor of law, and founder
of the Carantania Institute, to teach the
benefits of the free economy to stu-
dents and teachers who were raised on
socialistic ideology. Sturm continues to
organize seminars for Slovenian teach-
ers using DVD material provided by
the Free to Choose Network’s
FreeToChoose.org.
Today, Vida’s contributions allow Atlas
to sponsor the annual Liberty Seminars
for students from Eastern and Central
Europe. In September, campers from
Germany, Ukraine, Slovenia, Serbia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro,
Romania, Bulgaria, the United States,
Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland,
and Slovakia travelled to Lake Bohinj
in Slovenia for week-long lectures and
advanced study on the philosophical
foundations of freedom and liberty in
European transition countries.  Re-
nowned scholars leading the discus-
sions included:  Tanja Stumberger and
Andrei Illarionov of the Cato Institute,
Steve Pejovich (Texas A&M Univer-
sity, USA), Aleksandar Novakovic of
the Serbian NGO Katalaksija, Bernard
Brščić (University of Ljubljana, Slove-
nia) and Sirc from CRCE.
The Ribnikar’s generous legacy gift to
Atlas lives on today, helping Central
and Eastern Europeans in the fight
against socialist advances. For that,
we are grateful – both to the Ribnikars
and the Prahs.
Alejandro Chafuen is CEO and
President of the Atlas Economic
Research Foundation.
For a more detailed version of the Ribnikar
work.org/NetworkNews
ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009 16
 1 Bienvenido “Nonoy” Oplas
Jr. (Minimal Government
Thinkers, Philippines) and 3 Emmanuel Martin
Xu Zhao (Unirule Institute (bottom left), director of
of Economics, China) chat Atlas’s French language
between sessions of a four-
platform UnMondeLibre.
hour fundraising workshop
for international think tank org, enjoys food and
leaders at the Atlas Liberty drink with European
Forum in Los Angeles. Nonoy think tank leaders at
and Xu are active networkers the Atlas co-sponsored
of classical liberals in Asia, European Resource Bank
using blogs, translations, in Marseille, France in
and innovative web media to August.
reach the masses.

2 Left to right: Atlas chair- 4 Jarolsav Romanchuk

man Dan Grossman, Senior (Scientific Research Mises
Fellow and Think Tank MBA Center, Belarus) intensely
facilitator Rainer Heufers, focused at an Atlas
board member Curtin Winsor workshop at the Liberty
and Foundation for Economic Forum.
Education chairman, Wayne
1 Olson at The Atlas Experience.
2 3 4

Connecting the Freedom movement

M uch of the value cre-
ated by Atlas hap-
pens over email, the
telephone, personal
visits and private meetings. Atlas
events provide an inspiring, invigo-
rating opportunity to glimpse the
and attracted nearly 300 participants
from more than 40 countries, for
the purpose of sharing ideas, learn-
ing strategies, and drinking in the
rare camaraderie of peers who also
dedicate their lives to the spread of
liberty.  Policy sessions, featuring ex-
and Financial Management during
Difficult Times.

In August, Atlas provided another

exciting networking opportunity via
its special, retreat-like “Atlas Experi-
ence” event in Niagara-on-the-Lake,
Atlas’s final large event in 2009 takes
place in November in Washington
DC and builds around the Freedom
Dinner, Atlas’s annual celebration
of the anniversary of the fall of the
Berlin Wall.  This year’s dinner fea-
tures master of ceremonies Walter
of free speech and co-founder of the
Foundation for Individual Rights
in Education (FIRE).  The dinner is
complemented by a two-day program
that includes a conference featur-
ing winners of the 2009 Templeton
Freedom Awards as well as many
veterans of the Atlas Think Tank MBA
and Templeton Freedom Awards.

For many international partners work-

ing in hostile areas, Atlas events offer
a glimpse of the large family of like-
minded individuals who are working
power of the freedom movement that perts from the think tank community, Canada. In an intimate setting, E. Williams, distinguished profes- freedom-fighters who were pres- for the same cause and re-energizes
Atlas is so privileged to nurture.  focused on the topics of Free Trade, friends of liberty recharged their sor of economics at George Mason ent when the Berlin Wall was torn their efforts.
Sound Money, Regulatory Reform, batteries, developed new friendships, University and the keynote address down. Following the Freedom Dinner
The Liberty Forum is Atlas’s pre- and Entrepreneurship.  Training and shared ideas for more effectively by Alan Charles Kors – one of the and conference, Atlas will hold an
miere networking event.  In 2009, workshops taught best practices in promoting free-market reforms. world’s leading authorities on the invitation-only training workshop for
the Forum was held in Los Angeles the Use of New Media, Fundraising, Enlightenment, steadfast defender new think tank leaders to learn from

7 Liberty Forum Keynote Speaker

5 Atlas trustee Linda and former President of Bolivia,
Whetstone (right) offers Jorge Quiroga.
some wisdom to new think
tank leaders Armando and 8 Left to right: Atlas board member
Claudia Regil (Instituto de Andrea Rich, keynote speaker Hon.
Pensamiento Estratégico Maurice McTigue (Mercatus Center,
Ágora A.C., Mexico) USA), and Atlas president Alex
Chafuen at The Atlas Experience in
6 Atlas board member Niagara, Canada.
Chuck Albers (right) greets
new supporter John Laing 9 Durra Elmaki, a student at Ameri-
at the Liberty Forum. can University, attends a fundraising
workshop at Atlas’s Liberty Forum
in Los Angeles. Elmaki plans to start
a think tank in the Sudan called the
5 6 7 8 Nile Institute for Economic Studies. 9

17 ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009 ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009 18

EXPANDING Eurasia:
Russia and
THE AUDIENCE the Countries
FOR LIBERTY of the former
USSR
I n January 2009, Atlas launched a new Global Initiative for Free Trade,
Peace, and Prosperity by incorporating into its operations
international programs developed at the Cato Institute and led by Tom
G. Palmer, now Atlas vice president for international programs.

The staff of the initiative includes native speakers of more than a dozen lan-
guages, who work to expand the reach of the ideas of liberty -- new capabili-
Atlas’s Anna Krasinkaya, editor of the AGI Rus-
sian platform InLiberty.ru, discusses the chal-
lenge of promoting individual liberty in Eurasia.

ties that multiply the opportunities for Atlas to identify and assist “intellectual
entrepreneurs” who were otherwise inaccessible. New think tanks in a num-
ber of countries have been established and joined the Atlas family as a result.

For each language, Atlas maintains an active web-based platform, which is

used as a brand for books, syndication of articles to the press, videos,
“Freedom Schools” for students, and policy conferences for policy makers,
entrepreneurs, and journalists.

What follows is a mere peek into the wide range of activities that Atlas has
initiated in three vitally important parts of the world: Eurasia, Asia, and the Students at a conference on Property and Freedom in Ukraine.

T
Middle East. (The Atlas Global Initiative is also active in Europe, Africa, and
South America; visit AtlasNetwork.org/globalinitiative for more details.)
he countries of the former Soviet Union are critical for the future of
liberty. InLiberty.ru, Atlas’s Russian brand, has been on the job. In-
Liberty.ru editor Anna Krasinskaya, in addition to editing the website,
publishing several books, and working with the Russian-language media,
organized a summer school in Odessa, Ukraine for students mainly from Rus-
sia, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Southern Caucasus. Krasinskya also coordinated
a fall Free-Market School in Issyk Kul, Kyrgyzstan (in conjunction with the
newly formed Central Asian Free Market Institute, CAFMI), for students
from the five Central Asian former Soviet Republics. Distinguished scholars
Professor George Selgin and Professor Deepak Lal held seminars in Kyiv,
Moscow, and St. Petersburg that were attended by former prime ministers and
finance ministers, leading journalists, and hundreds of students. Lal promoted
the Russian edition of his book Reviving the Invisible Hand, which was trans-
lated and published by InLiberty.ru.

Atlas expanded its reach into Ukraine when Palmer and colleague Peter
Kaznacheev, InLiberty.ru’s first editor, visited Kyiv and brought two new Reinventing Civil Society by David Green
groups into the Atlas network, the Ukrainian Foundation for Support of (top) and Reviving the Invisible Hand by
Reform and the Property and Freedom Institute, and into Central Asia Deepak Lal (bottom) in Russian.
when Palmer visited Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan and helped to es-
tablish CAFMI, which is now growing and working throughout the region, and
InLiberty.ru blogger and Academy of National Economy (Russia) Fellow Vadim Novikov discussing
is already assisting a new Atlas partner being established in Afghanistan.
“the tale of a slave,” a case study from Robert Nozick’s Anarchy, State, and Utopia with students at a
19 ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009
seminar in Odessa, Ukraine.
ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009 20
 Asia
Shrawan Garg, Gurcharan Das, and Ved Pratap
Vaidik collectively “launch” the Hindi website,
Azadi.me, with the push of a button.
Mirsulzhan Namazaliev and Seyitbek Usmanov
of the Central Asian Free Market Institute dur-
ing the Fall Free Market School in Issyk Kul,
Kyrgyzstan.
21 ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009
Discussion of the role of economic freedom at the Akademi Merdeka Freedom
Academy in Penang, Malaysia.
A tlas maintains a number of platforms in Asia, in Chinese (Guominliyi.
org), Bahasa Indonesia/Malaysia (AkademiMerdeka.org), Vietnamese
(DoiMoi.org), and Hindi (Azadi.me), and works closely with partner
organizations throughout the region. The Atlas Global Initiative brought Jude
Blanchette on board to manage institute relations in Asia. Blanchette is based in
Beijing and travels to the region to assist Asian think tanks.
Guominliyi.org has cooperated with Chinese partners to introduce a series of
books in Chinese (including, recently, David Boaz’s Libertarianism: A Primer)
and organized a week-long summer school in Huangzhou and lecture tours to
Chinese law schools to promote improvements to the Chinese legal system and
to build a “culture of law” in the country. Professor Andrew Morriss of the Uni-
versity of Illinois College of Law has worked closely with Guominliyi.org and a
number of Chinese legal scholars on the project.
Blanchette joined Palmer in India to help the team working on Azadi.me, the
Hindi project that was officially launched in August by leading Indian journal-
ists Gurcharan Das, author of India Unbound, Shrawan Garg, editor of Dainik
Bhaskar (India’s largest circulation Hindi newspaper), and Ved Pratap Vaidik,
political scientist and former editor of Navbharat Times and PTI Bhasha.
Those visits also sparked the China-India Citizens’ Initiative, which seeks to
promote free trade and peace between the two countries. The Central Asian
Free Market Institute is also encouraging elimination of barriers to trade and
travel throughout Eurasia and Asia.
Middle
EAst
Students at the Minbaralhurriyya.org (Arabic) conference in Harissa, Lebanon.
T he Middle East has long been known for volatility and the scarcity of the ideas and policies of liberty. That is chang-
ing. Atlas maintains web-platforms in four Middle Eastern languages: Arabic (Minbaralhurriyya.org), Persian
(Cheragheazadi.org), Kurdish (Chiraiazadi.org), and Azerbaijani (Azadliqciragi.org). Each has published books
for local distribution, as well as articles to the media. Some of the books have already gone into multiple printings and are
being used in university courses. Cheragheazadi.org’s materials in Persian are distributed beyond Iran and are being printed
in Afghanistan for that country’s large Persian speaking population by the Afghanistan Economic and Legal Studies
Organization, which was founded after Palmer’s visit in 2009.
The most active of the three is Minbaralhurriyya.org, which publishes articles virtually every day in the Arab press, from
Morocco to Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and held two summer schools in 2009, in Mahdiyya, Morocco and Harissa, Lebanon.
In addition, Minbaralhurriyya.org organized the “Dialogue of Civilizations” in conjunction with the Alexandria Library of
Egypt, which focused on peaceful coexistence among the world’s cultures, and the “2009 Egypt Audit,” a major conference
in Cairo that was organized in conjunction with the think tank of the Egyptian cabinet and the Fraser Institute of Cana-
da. Fraser scholars worked with Atlas’s Nouh El Harmouzi, editor of Minbaralhurriyya.org, to provide a systematic audit
of the policies of the Egyptian government and to make concrete recommendations for removing barriers to enterprise,
trade, and economic improvement. The recommendations were presented, discussed, debated in Cairo by five Egyptian
working groups, which then prepared a report to the government with their proposals.
The ideas of freedom are a necessary response to the ideas of coercion, of socialism, nationalism, extremism, and intoler-
ance. The Atlas Global Initiative offers the alternative of peace, enterprise, freedom, and mutual benefit through trade in
areas that are sometimes hostile to or unfamiliar with the ideas of liberty.
The Atlas Global Initiative takes a
proactive approach to spreading liberty in
languages that otherwise have limited access
to classical liberal ideas. By publishing the
works of thinkers like Adam Smith, J.S. Mill,
Frédéric Bastiat in Chinese, Portuguese,
Russian, Hindi and more than a dozen other
languages, the gospels of freedom are reach-
ing previously unfamiliar territory.
From left to right: Capitalism and Freedom
by Milton Friedman (Persian), Adam Smith -
A Primer by Eamonn Butler (Azeribaijani),
Libertarianism - A Primer by David Boaz
(Kurdish), and Not A Zero Sum Game by
Manuel F. Ayau (Arabic).
ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009 22
 SPECIAL
Sound Money
Can we escape from the current financial crisis by

ATLAS
dropping dollars from a helicopter? To better under-
stand the nature of the current crisis, Atlas launched
a new Sound Money Project in 2009, which aims
to revitalize think tank interest in an urgent topic
that has been neglected for too long. An enlightened
citizenship, aware of the problems involved with the

INITIATIVES
state manipulation of money and credit, is the most
secure barrier against the destruction of our assets.

The Project mobilizes organizations in the Atlas

network and canvasses its ranks to discover and
nurture the next generation of sound money experts.
Freedom To Trade
Cato Senior Fellow Gerald P. O’Driscoll speaking on “The Financial Crisis and
The Project has featured strategy sessions and Attack on Sound Money” at the Liberty Forum in April. O’Driscoll, along with
Lawrence H. White (George Mason University), Deepak Lal (University of
Will the troubled world economy go from bad to worse? The answer to this question may hinge on whether free-market discussions on the financial crisis and the role of California-Los Angeles), Peter J. Boettke (George Mason University) and others
advocates can prevail over those who would undermine global trade with protectionist measures. money at the Liberty Forum, Atlas’s International participated in the Atlas Sound Money Project’s inaugural strategy session after
Thursday, and is planning an event to be held in early the NYC Mont Pelerin Society meeting in March.
In March, Atlas launched a campaign, resulting in a petition signed by over 1,000 economists and think tank leaders, 2010 in Philadelphia. Atlas also launched a Sound
calling on governments of all nations to resist the temptation of raising barriers to trade. Working in cooperation with Money Essay Contest with the goals of raising aware-
the London-based International Policy Network, the Freedom To Trade campaign has taken off in many parts of ness of sound money as a key field of concentration and of identifying students with an interest in the field.  In October,
the world, being replicated in places like India, Central Asia, China, and Latin America. Atlas produced original videos the Project created a Senior Fellowship for graduate students who can be articulate communicators for sound money
explaining the relationship between trade, peace, and prosperity that have been translated into eleven languages. In policies in public forums, with economist Lawrence H. White of George Mason University as mentor.
September, it organized dozens of students from Latin America, China, the U.S., and Canada, to travel to the G-20
Summit in Pittsburgh to rally support for free trade and protest short-sighted economic nationalism. Teach Freedom Initiative
Several of Atlas’s peer organizations are fighting back against
the problem of ideological bias and political correctness on
Students protesting protectionism at the G-20
college campuses. Much of the attention has been on the
Summit in Pittsburgh in September.
restoration of “Western Civ” programs that were undermined
by the shift to “culture studies” that barely disguised a leftwing
agenda. Atlas’s Teach Freedom Initiative (TFI) complements
this work by helping “intellectual entrepreneurs” within
universities who also defend free enterprise. In 2009, the TFI
supported the launch and growth of academic programs along
In 2009, TFI hosted three conferences addressing the two key issues
in promoting market-based solutions for society: how to teach sound these lines at five different U.S. universities, and sponsored
economics and how academic centers could serve as conduits for two conferences.
classical liberalism.  Jeff Sandefer (pictured) of the Acton School
of Business delivered the keynote address at the Guatemala event The goal of the conferences are to foster an exchange of ideas
on “Improving Students’ Appreciation of Free-Market Thinking
Through the Academy.” among those who can help reform higher education, by
developing new programs and academic centers that celebrate
free-market ideas.

Fund for the Study of Spontaneous Orders

An anonymous donor helped develop a forward-looking project at Atlas that encourages young scholars to apply the
perspective of Austrian methodological individualism, which has greatly increased our understanding of free markets,
to areas outside the realm of traditional economic study.

Atlas’s Fund for the Study of Spontaneous Orders (FSSO) sponsored a conference on “Manifestations of Spontaneous
Orders in Politics and Society,” attracting scientists from several different fields (geography, economics, anthropology,
political science) to discuss the ways different scholarly disciplines approach the question of orders, both spontaneous
and consciously created. In September, the Fund presented its fourth Lifetime Achievement Award to Peter Berger, Pro-
fessor Emeritus of Religion, Sociology, and Theology at Boston University. FSSO awarded recent Nobel laureate Elinor
Ostrom and husband Vince with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003 for their work pioneering the study of com-
munal property rights. The Ostroms showed how groups of people — communities — can protect and preserve property
rights without the heavy hand of government.   

ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009 24

 The Atlas Mission
To discover, develop, and support ‘intellectual entrepreneurs’ worldwide who
can advance the Atlas vision of a society of free and responsible individuals.

Board Members
Chuck Albers Andrea Rich
John Blundell René Scull
Timothy Browne William Sumner
Daniel Grossman, Chairman Linda Whetstone
Hon. Curtin Winsor
Atlas Revenue and Expenses
Abby Moffat
George Pearson 2008 2007
Contributions $6,400,965 $6,800,576
Senior Staff
Alejandro A. Chafuen, President & Chief Executive Officer Other Income $280,156 $131,379
Jo Kwong, Vice President for Institute Relations
Leonard P. Liggio, Executive Vice President for Academics TOTAL INCOME $6,681,121 $6,931,955
Brad Lips, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer
Tom G. Palmer, Vice President for International Programs & General Director,
Atlas Global Initiative for Free Trade, Peace, and Prosperity

Program Services $5,401,256 $4,019,006

Atlas Staff Diqing Jiang, Editoralist, Guominliyi.org
Management $379,132 $304,356
(Chinese), Atlas Global Initiative
Eva Andraskova, Assistant, Institute Relations
Anna Krasinskaya, Editor, InLiberty.ru (Russian),
William Arnold, Associate, Donor Relations
Atlas Global Initiative Fundraising $458,694 $408,917
Cindy Cerquitella, Program Manager,
Austin Petersen, Program Manager, New Media,
Web Media & Institute Relations, Europe
Atlas Global Initiative
Diogo Costa, Editor, OrdemLivre.org (Portuguese), TOTAL EXPENSES $6,239,082 $4,732,279
Romulo Lopez, Manager, Administration and
Atlas Global Initiative
Programs
Kristina Crane, Operations Manager,
Cassy Loseke, Manager, Marketing Support,
Atlas Global Initiative
Atlas Global Initiative Net Assets (End of Year) $5,609,596 $5,168,557
Peshwaz Faizulla, Editor, Chiraiazadi.org
Luke Seidl, Outreach Associate & Editor,
(Kurdish) & Managing Editor, Cheragheazadi.org
Publications
(Persian), Atlas Global Initiative
Elle Spiecher, Assistant, Institute Relations
Whitney Garrison, Associate, External Relations
Priscilla Tacujan, Program Manager, Teach
Allegra Herburt-Hewell, Associate,
Freedom Initiative
Events & Institute Relations, Latin America
Yiqiao Xu, Director, Programs
Atlas Revenue and Expense Trends
Joseph Humire, Program Manager,
Think Tanks for a Secure Free Society

Atlas Contractors Mohammad Jahan-Parvar, Editor,

(WORKING FOR LIBERTY WORLDWIDE)
Khalil Ahmad, Editor, Hum-Azad.org (Urdu),
Atlas Global Initiative
Jude Blanchette, Institute Relations, Asia
Baishali Bomjan, Co-editor, Azadi.me (Hindi),
Atlas Global Initiative
Alan Chen, Co-editor, Guominliyi.org (Chinese),
Atlas Global Initiative
Franklin Cudjoe, Editor, AfricanLiberty.org
(English and Swahili), Atlas Global Initiative
Stephanie Giovanetti, Manager, Events
Nouh El-Harmouzi, Editor, Minbaralhurriyya.
org (Arabic), Atlas Global Initiative
Cheragheazadi.org (Persian), Atlas Global Initiative
Ziyang Li, Co-editor, Gouminliyi.org (Chinese),
Atlas Global Initiative
Emmanuel Martin, Editor, UnMondeLibre.org
(French), Atlas Global Initiative
Cong Minh Nguyen, Editor, DoiMoi.org
(Vietnamese), Atlas Global Initiative
Parth Shah, Co-editor, Azadi.me (Hindi), Atlas
Global Initiative
Tural Veliyev, Editor, Azadliqciragi.org
(Azerbaijani), Atlas Global Initiative
Wan Saiful Wan Jan, Editor, WauBebas.org
(Maylay), Atlas Global Initiative

Senior Fellows
William Dennis
Rainer Heufers
Gabriel Sanchez-Zinny
25 ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009
Deroy Murdock
ATLAS YEAR IN REVIEW | 2009 26